Bill Phelps, the CEO of Dave’s Hot Chicken has helped 19 of his employees turn millionaires after he sold his company for $1 billion. The California-based restaurant chain has a presence in over 100 locations across the US after being founded in 2017. A private equity firm Roark Capital acquired a majority stake in the company closing the deal for $1 billion.

However, Phelps, unlike any other CEO, did not part with the money for himself but decided to share it with 19 of his employees. He provided them with a million dollars each thanking them for their services to help build the company from scratch. Phelps revealed to CNBC that he intentionally created millionaires because he always wanted to help people from his younger days.

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Billionaire CEO Makes 19 Employees Millionaires

Apart from creating 19 millionaires, he also provided every employee with a yearly salary as a bonus for their hard work. “I had some investors who were like, ‘you’re giving away too much money, this isn’t right,'” he said. “They were absolutely right as investors to stand up for other investors. They have a fiduciary duty, but I have a duty to the people that created this business and I was true to taking care of all of those stakeholders in this deal.”

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Every corporate employee, store manager, and assistant manager received a bonus equivalent to their yearly salary. Phelps revealed that he believes in giving credit to employees where it’s due. While his company was sold for $1 billion, more than a dozen people turned millionaires out of his goodwill.

He also revealed that he was hackled upon by an investor saying that he lacks compensation knowledge to employees. “I was told by one of my investors that I had no concept of what management compensation should look like. And he’s right because I don’t look at them as management. I look at them as my partners in this journey, and I compensate them as partners in the journey,” he summed it up.